Reviewing Performance

Who here can raise their hand to the statement "My performance is reviewed once per year. That's how I know how I'm doing or not doing or what my raise will be or won't be."

This is a terrible reality for too many of us and it's within our own power to make changes happen today.

Reviewing employee performance is a minute by minute occurrence. If you are responsible for managing people needs within their career, it's important to understand that we cannot serve the people we manage by doing performance management in any other way.

When I learned that Disney managers spend more than 85% of their day with their employees I almost fell over. I was both ecstatic and baffled at the same time. How do they get any of their work done? And after a moment of reflection the answer came to me..."Because that is their work."

Ta-da!

So how do we successfully review employee performance on a minute by minute basis and avoid micromanaging?

Simple. Here are a few thoughts I have on 'how'.

1. Keep track of what your people are doing. OneNote serves a great way for them and you to contribute to the same document. Everyone gets to be on the same page. No secrets. Everything becomes a shared collaboration toward the purpose and intention of growth and development.
2. Change up what you are inspecting as frequently as you need to keep them sharp. Is it their communication skills? Project outcomes? Document development? What specific job related tasks, responsibilities, and competencies do they need, and which ones do you need to inspect today/this week/this month?
3. Set formal goals with specific action plans that you can follow up on based on the time frames given. When you manage people your role is accountability to the plan - having the right conversation at the right time to important forward movement on goal achievement. Make sure you hold yourself and them accountable to what's been discussed and decided upon.
4. Ask about the frequency and focus. When you involve your people in the process of their own performance management, they will tell you if you are doing too much, too little, and when things need to change. It's an ever evolving process so remain flexible with their needs.

Above all else, managing people is about serving their needs AND your organizations needs. Striking the balance requires transparency and open dialogue. Good luck!